Reviews for Love's First Light

The average rating for Love's First Light based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-12-23 00:00:00 Deborah Godby Love's First Light starts out with an intensely emotional and graphic scene that made me wince, but I couldn't stop reading. Carie did an excellent job with realism. As I read along I realized how many morbid sayings come from that era like, "Should I stick my neck out?" and "Some heads are gonna roll." Ew. That time period was downright brutal and unfair to the innocent. I loved how well the author played this theme out even if it did gross me out a bit at times. This started out as a really good story but there were a few things that didn't sit right with me from the middle to the end. The hero's dialogue sounded a bit more like a woman than a man for much of the second half of the book. It could've been because he was a scientist and artsy sort, but I'm not inclined to think the author made the man seem effeminate on purpose. Maybe it's just me, but I also felt like I was slipping in and out of the time period, too. It's hard to explain. Maybe the voice wasn't consistently French- Revolution-sounding. That's the only thing I can think of that would explain why I didn't feel immersed in the story from the middle of the book to the end. One more sort of humorous comment. On page 263 one of the characters references when the French gave the Statue of Liberty to America after they won their freedom from England. Well, I'm not a huge history buff when it comes to the picky dates and details but even I knew that event occurred in the 1800s. It bugged me so I looked it up and the date was 1886 to be exact - a full 100 years later. One historic site wrote... The Statue of Liberty was given to America by the French in 1886 and has been a symbol for America ever since. So there is no possible way that the character in 1794 could have know about something that took place almost 90 years in the future. That was a big whoops on the author's part. History buffs are sure to notice. Sheesh, I hate to be critical because I'm a big Jamie Carie fan, but this did throw me for a loop to the point of distraction. In some places the words the author used were so beautiful and poetic, but in other places the dialogue threw me off because it didn't seem to fit the era. And the romance between two older secondary characters seemed a bit plastic to me. I wasn't feeling the love like it was a real thing. It also seemed like the color and prism theme in the story was a bit disjointed. But I am still a big Jamie Carie fan and I loved The Duchess and the Dragon and Wind Dancer. This book...not so much. Sorry! On the more positive end, I have to say the author has a way with words when it comes to romance and kissing. That's definitely her strength. I loved the forgiveness theme in the story as well and how the author showed that sometimes the people who have every right to be bitter are the ones God uses to set the example (if they are willing) by their love and demonstrated forgiveness. That was very well done. So, that said, for the above reasons this was not my favorite book by Carie, but if you like reading about the era and the issues surrounding the French Revolution, you would still enjoy this story.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-03-27 00:00:00 Elana Bader I liked this book set during the French Revolution. I gave it 3 1/2 stars. It was interesting to read about the French Revolution from a male aristocrat prospective and also a fictional female relative of Robespierre. I enjoyed the love story and really like Jamie Carie's writing style. My only nitpicky problems with the story were the historical inaccuracies. Typically, I'm not one of those readers who has to have everything completely accurate in order to enjoy the story, but it bugs me when facts that are generally known are overlooked. For instance, at the Festival of the Supreme Being, Carie describes a replica of the "Statue of Liberty" that France gave to America. The problem with this is that the Statue of Liberty wasn't even thought of until about 100 years later in 1865 and wasn't completed and dedicated until 1886. I know this is a fictional story, but it disappointed me that such a glaring mistake wouldn't have been caught by at least the editor. I felt a little disillusioned with the book after that, but I still enjoyed it.